Nicolas-gatineau tournament a big tournament a lot of good schools and colleges participate in it... they lost against u17 guardsman they won the hole thing actually.

I don't know if I'm right or not, but don't the two big guys from Louis-Riel play guardsmen? I just don't know what age. Im pretty sure its u17. Anyways did they play for the guardsmen or for Louis-Riel?

Nicolas-gatineau tournament a big tournament a lot of good schools and colleges participate in it... they lost against u17 guardsman they won the hole thing actually.

I don't know if I'm right or not, but don't the two big guys from Louis-Riel play guardsmen? I just don't know what age. Im pretty sure its u17. Anyways did they play for the guardsmen or for Louis-Riel?

No actually it's only Ralph who plays for u17 but he played for his school team, but guardsman still had elliot, daniel, the two tall twins and other good players

A couple of years ago, LR made a similar decision to move up to AAA/AAAA instead of playing A/AA and their team did not qualify for ofsaa. I thought perhaps they might have wondered about what could have been had they stayed in A/AA. Like a couple of years ago, LR moving up really makes for a very competitive league at the AAA/AAAA level in our league this year. It is great for our league to have this kind of competition. It should make all of the games that much more enjoyable to play and watch. If they have a team that will contend for the title, then why not move up? There were several people on one of the threads last year debating whether or not LR should be able to move up and down year after year, and some even suggested that they should have to move up each year because of the fact that they can draw athletes to their program from all over the city unlike the other schools. Regardless, you have to give them credit for playing in our top division when they know that they have a competitive team.

Having said all of that, I am not familiar with the players listed for LR, but I have to assume that their coaches believe that they will be strong otherwise they would have stayed A/AA like last year. So they make a top ten list for sure. Another team that no one seems to be talking about is St. Pats. Remember, they were mostly grade 9 and 10 last year so the core of their team is back after winning the top seed in the east last season. They too will be top 10 most likely top 5. Gotta put Hillcrest, Sacred Heart, St. Matts, SRB, Earl, up there too so that would be 7 of the top ten teams (in no specific order). Who are the other three?

Since there is really only going to be around 10 teams that will be able to some what compete for the title I think we should lower this down to a top 5 prediction not a top 10. As of right now where it stands here is my top 5.

1. Sacred Heart ( With Sean and Vic and a good supporting cast this team hands down will be the season favorites, especially if Tony is coaching again)2. Sir Robert Borden ( Last years AAA/AAAA champs will be right back in the running with Jamal and Farhan leading the way. There have been rumors that Amin may not play. If he does he will be the cherry on top and make SRB that much stronger. )3. St. Matthew ( City finalists last year I predict will be right back up there. With Matt, Cedric, and Ykaelo leading the way with some very talented grade 11's (Mack Wakefield ). With Chris Wakefield coaching the Junior team last year it will be interesting to see if he makes the jump to senior)4. Hilcrest ( Emad and Isaak will carry the load for this team there is no question about it. As long as they can get some crucial points out of their role players this will be a very strong team, especially in the back court)5. Earl Of March ( EOM tops off the top 5 for two reasons. One being Ryan Evans, he will be solid in the post coming off of his efforts in International play over the summer. The key will be if he is able to kick it out when the double or triple team comes. If he can do this and hit Owen Powers ( arguably the best three point shooter in the city ) they will do fine. Not to mention they have a great role player in Robert Melnick. )

Honorable Mention goes to St. Pats. Their team will be young and this may be their Achilles heel. However with Mariel back they should be lethal on offense.

Quick note, I think this season will be much last years in the sense that on any given day anyone can be beaten.

Since there is really only going to be around 10 teams that will be able to some what compete for the title I think we should lower this down to a top 5 prediction not a top 10. As of right now where it stands here is my top 5.

1. Sacred Heart ( With Sean and Vic and a good supporting cast this team hands down will be the season favorites, especially if Tony is coaching again)2. Sir Robert Borden ( Last years AAA/AAAA champs will be right back in the running with Jamal and Farhan leading the way. There have been rumors that Amin may not play. If he does he will be the cherry on top and make SRB that much stronger. )3. St. Matthew ( City finalists last year I predict will be right back up there. With Matt, Cedric, and Ykaelo leading the way with some very talented grade 11's (Mack Wakefield ). With Chris Wakefield coaching the Junior team last year it will be interesting to see if he makes the jump to senior)4. Hilcrest ( Emad and Isaak will carry the load for this team there is no question about it. As long as they can get some crucial points out of their role players this will be a very strong team, especially in the back court)5. Earl Of March ( EOM tops off the top 5 for two reasons. One being Ryan Evans, he will be solid in the post coming off of his efforts in International play over the summer. The key will be if he is able to kick it out when the double or triple team comes. If he can do this and hit Owen Powers ( arguably the best three point shooter in the city ) they will do fine. Not to mention they have a great role player in Robert Melnick. )

Honorable Mention goes to St. Pats. Their team will be young and this may be their Achilles heel. However with Mariel back they should be lethal on offense.

Quick note, I think this season will be much last years in the sense that on any given day anyone can be beaten.

NO, i definitely can not agree with that first i think louis-riel can handle st-matts, louis has the same team as 2 years ago in junior and they handled st-matts in the season and eliminated them in the east simi-finals, and since hillcrest lost they're key big man and now they're left with one and i'm sure ralp and chris from LR can handle him inside and emad and issack can't do everything obviously they would need rest at a point then who will take over for them???? so this is my top 5:1.Sacred-Heart2.Louis-Riel3.SRB4.Hillcrest5.St-matthew..... EOM shouldn't be in the top 5 one player can't do all the scoring!!!

Don't know if I would say that SH is "hands down number one". This is probably the first year in a while that there was not a "hands down" favorite entering into the season. Also, I don't see how St. Pats is not in the top 5. They finished first in the east last year with pretty much the same team. Earl is much better than one scorer. The big guy can score, Owen can score, and Robert can score. I also heard that they have a couple of pretty athletic guys that can get to the rim this year too. I would be hesitant it throw LR in the top five to start simply because they did not even win single A last year or junior with the guys moving up. They may indeed be better than what they are getting credit for right now, but in a preseason ranking they probably have to earn their way into the top five first. Top five, in no order, could be Earl, SRB, SH, Hillcrest, and St. Pats. Louis Riel and St. Matts deserve to be in the conversation though and will likely crack the top five at some point during the season. What about Deslaruiers? They have been getting better each year for the last couple of years. What are they like this year?

Deslauriers looked good at the Nic Gatinaeu tournament a few weeks ago. They have a solid pg and some good rebounders. They will make some noise, especially if they are underestimated.

Carine Wilson may be a surprising team this year if they move up to tier one. From what I hear, their whole team, including Stu Munroe, is back after winning the tier two championship last year. They have strong coaching and good shooters.

Deslauriers looked good at the Nic Gatinaeu tournament a few weeks ago. They have a solid pg and some good rebounders. They will make some noise, especially if they are underestimated.

Carine Wilson may be a surprising team this year if they move up to tier one. From what I hear, their whole team, including Stu Munroe, is back after winning the tier two championship last year. They have strong coaching and good shooters.

Arguably i would put LR, Hill or SH for the top position but who knows anything could happen this year. Deslaurier actually lost all they're games by a minimum of 15 points, they're a solid team but they need to learn how to play together... to many egos, i count them out of the list plus they're in double A so yeah.

Deslauriers looked good at the Nic Gatinaeu tournament a few weeks ago. They have a solid pg and some good rebounders. They will make some noise, especially if they are underestimated.

Carine Wilson may be a surprising team this year if they move up to tier one. From what I hear, their whole team, including Stu Munroe, is back after winning the tier two championship last year. They have strong coaching and good shooters.

Arguably i would put LR, Hill or SH for the top position but who knows anything could happen this year. Deslaurier actually lost all they're games by a minimum of 15 points, they're a solid team but they need to learn how to play together... to many egos, i count them out of the list plus they're in double A so yeah.

Are you insinuating that AA schools aren't strong? School size has NOTHING to do with how strong you are. For example look at Eastern Commerce and Father Henry Carr of Toronto. They have no where near the capacity of a AAAA school.

Take it a step further, Timmins High of the NEOAA region (formerly the IAGB) is a AA team that used to (and at times) beat the living hell out of teams. Ask St Pats how Timmins was last year. If my memory serves me correct they lost to Timmins.

It's the schools program that has to be taken into consideration. Just cause you're big doesn't mean you're good.

Of all these teams, I'd say St. Pats is the dark horse. They're young and athletic. This time next year I think they will be the talk of the forums as one of the elite of the city and possibly provincial contenders.

Deslauriers looked good at the Nic Gatinaeu tournament a few weeks ago. They have a solid pg and some good rebounders. They will make some noise, especially if they are underestimated.

Carine Wilson may be a surprising team this year if they move up to tier one. From what I hear, their whole team, including Stu Munroe, is back after winning the tier two championship last year. They have strong coaching and good shooters.

Carine is an A size school correct? If so they will definitely be in the city finals with the line up that they have and with Bill Arden still coaching.

I am not proposing that Deslauriers or Carine Wilson will be in the top five, six or even seven, however, am just pointing out that they have the potential to be good teams this year. St. Petes will also be strong, even though they will have to rely heavily on 11s, but so will LR. Right now, it looks like the top teams will be SRB, St. Matts, Hillcrest, St. Pats, SH, EOM, and LR. Having said that, there are a number of teams, mentioned and unmentioned, that may surprise some teams.

In terms of Deslauriers, I agree with the earlier poster that they do need to learn to play together. Remember though, that even though they lost all of their games by 15+, they were playing the Guardsmenand CEGEPs.

When it is all said and done, the top teams are so close that the team-game will dictate success this year. On most teams, good players will be covering each other and to some degree, cancel each other out. Championships will be decided by depth, defense and team-play. And for most teams in the 'Year of the Guard', it will also come down to which team's guards are willing to rotate down in the post and do their share of the dirty work. Tall, aggressive guards will be a big advantage.

Like I said earlier, I think it is going to be an exciting year of basketball and am looking forward to it.

Cant agree with you more Shake. We will be able to sort everything out once teams start playing each other which should be the pre-season tournament at st.matts. Does anyone know which teams are registered for this yet?

Well it's already starting and yes it should be a great year of hoops. Thanks Redemption for putting the target on our backs (hands down favourites...lol!) and I'm back at SH looking forward to a very competitive year of basketball.

There are definitely a number of teams (and sounds like some new one's - Gloucester, LR, St. Pete's...) that have entered into the equation. I don't think you can ever underestimate anyone because as many have mentioned on any given day a team can be beat! There seems to at least be a consensus on Top 5-6 teams. Like CoachC has stated a team like LR and even St. Pete's has really no past body of work to go by in AAA/AAAA senior so their really unknowns at this point? What about BJH's post of John McRae, not sure if their AAA/AAAA but you've got 2 very good players and they can't be ignored.

We have to base it on what we know, and even then there are some remaining questions - my top 5 (not ranking SH):

SRB - defending champs until someone beats them - always a solid program;St. Pats - another solid program and can't ignore their athleticism;Hillcrest - still very talented;EOM - have quite a few threats;St. Matt's - was a finalist last year, good junior team coming upHonorable Mention - LR

As for tournament schedule, we will be at St. Matt's tournament and anticipate another great event. I see that both St. Pat's and SRB are going to the Henry Carr Early Bird - that's great, I always like to gauge how any Ottawa team does against some of the Provinces best. I'm assuming other Ottawa teams will hit some big tournaments? We're going to Eastern Commerce Holiday Classic (Toronto) and BRIT (Saskatoon), also going to Syracuse for 2 exhibition games (one against Jamesville Dewitt - Dajuan Coleman projected to be the top recruit in class of '12).

Don't know if I would say that SH is "hands down number one". This is probably the first year in a while that there was not a "hands down" favorite entering into the season. Also, I don't see how St. Pats is not in the top 5. They finished first in the east last year with pretty much the same team. Earl is much better than one scorer. The big guy can score, Owen can score, and Robert can score. I also heard that they have a couple of pretty athletic guys that can get to the rim this year too. I would be hesitant it throw LR in the top five to start simply because they did not even win single A last year or junior with the guys moving up. They may indeed be better than what they are getting credit for right now, but in a preseason ranking they probably have to earn their way into the top five first. Top five, in no order, could be Earl, SRB, SH, Hillcrest, and St. Pats. Louis Riel and St. Matts deserve to be in the conversation though and will likely crack the top five at some point during the season. What about Deslaruiers? They have been getting better each year for the last couple of years. What are they like this year?

Talent of the school is not based on school size. just because louis riel played single a last year dossent mean that their not competitve enough to play AAA/AAAA this year. Plus they played a very tough asbhury team in the finals who were eventual OFSAA Champions. Iam just wondering what makes louis riel sports etudes program so successful? most french schools have this program but they arent as successful as louis riel if you look at there whole sports program not just basketball they have been winning a number of ofsaa championship in the past 2 years and thats very rare, some schools have not even won 1 ofsaa championship since the establishement of there school.

Regrettably, we (SRB) have pulled out of the Henry Carr tournament. With a number of our players playing volleyball or soccer right now, we likely would not have our full roster to compete with these teams and definitely would not have the guys preparing for this tournament. I hate to pull out of such an great tournament, but there is nothing to gain by going down to T.O. without our full roster or without proper preparation. We are still in the Court Heinbuch tournament in Kitchener at the end of November. It too is a top notch tournament as several of the teams from the Carr tournament will be there. Good luck to St. Pats (Carr Tournament) and Sacred Heart (Eastern Commerce Classic) as they play in two of the provinces elite tournaments.